Wednesday April 18, Happy Reunion

Today Ingram woke up happy and was once again hollering for food.  That little man can eat when he decides he's hungry.  Once the girls got on the bus we left but by then we were already running late for our first appointment of the day.  Thankfully, our scheduler is so understanding and was able to rearrange our first appointment so that they weren't waiting on us.  We were just going to be a few minutes late, but as we got to an intersection with a gas station, all of a sudden Ingram decided he REALLY had to go to the bathroom.  Once at St. Jude, he happily goes in and picks out his wagon for the day and we load up and start rolling...around and around and around.  Okay so it's our fourth day to be at St. Jude and we're still learning our way around through all the halls and turns.  Luckily for us, they have all the walls painted and once I start to see flowers or snow on the wall, I know we're getting close to our home base which is E Clinic.  We also know just about where every bathroom is and of course where the food is!  Today by lunchtime, Ingram was so tired and as we were eating with our special guest, Pops (also known as my dad), he decided he wanted to crawl up in my lap and lay on me instead of eat.  Mimi (also know as my mom), ate lunch with us Tuesday while she was in town before she went back to Jackson.  I fixed up the wagon where he could lay down and take a nap while we rolled around and waited on our next appointments which were PT and OT.  His PT evaluation didn't go too well but at least he had fun playing with balls and bats.  His overall balance and lower body strength have changed and PT is going to be working with him to get stronger and more balanced.  We knew he wasn't 100% back since surgery (granted it was only 13 days ago) but sitting in the background watching another professional evaluate him and seeing the things he couldn't do was a little more difficult on me than I thought it would be.  OT was great and all his fine motor skills and cognition were either at or above his age level, including him drawing a "D" for daddy.  I've got to teach him to draw my "M" because I'm definitely getting jealous now!  We made it home without him falling asleep in the car so he actually got a real nap today; it started at 3 and ended at 6:30.  Now, we're waiting for our friends the Callenders to pull into the driveway and hangout for awhile before they head down to the Ronald McDonald house.  Alli is back in town for her scans and we're all praying for "ALL CLEAR" for her tomorrow.  They are our friends that I mentioned in our Tuesday April 3rd post and their page is www.caringbridge.com/visit/alli_gator_callender if you want to read about their battle with Neuroblastoma.  I know we're going to cry and hug and cry some more, but God put them in our lives from their first week at St. Jude and I believe He has used their journey to prepare us for our journey.  Even though we have only been at St. Jude four days so far, every parent we've spoken with, regardless of which tumor brought them to St. Jude, feels like family.

Bring it on Ependymoma; we're ready!